7 Pie Varieties That Every Baker Should Have In Their Repertoire
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Cookies are wonderful. The cake tastes amazing. But nothing beats pie for a genuinely amazing, melt-in-your-mouth, flavour-filled dessert that is seasonal, cosy, rich with feelings and memories, and even includes some fruit. It may be the pecan pie you were dying to try around the holidays, the lemon meringue pie or the rhubarb cream pie that you can make every spring as soon as the weather warms up.

Pies, in whatever form you choose, provide distinct flavour combinations, tastes, and textures that are hard to find elsewhere. Throughout the year, pies make us happy and elevate our palates to a level that no other dessert can match. They are especially delicious in the summer and autumn when they are loaded with perfectly ripe, in-season fruit. So, here are different types of pie that every baker should keep in their repertoire.

Double-Crust Pies

Double-crust pies are made with both a top and bottom layer, in contrast to single-crust pies, which have just a bottom crust, such as a pumpkin pie. The top crust is typically used with fruit fillings like apples or cherries. It can also be latticed to allow for more evaporation during baking. In addition to being tasty, double-crust pies have a practical purpose since the additional layer of dough improves content containment and provides the pie structure. It's advisable to let your double-crust pie rest for a few hours before slicing because of its texture. When it's done, serve it with ice cream or homemade whipped cream.

Custard Pies

The filling of custard pies is made with thickened eggs and is somewhat denser than pastry cream. Eggs, dairy, and sugar are combined and baked into a single crust until firm. The custard is a creamy, faintly eggy filling that melds with the crust after it cools. When the centre of a custard pie still wobbles slightly, it's done—165 degrees F is usually the sweet spot.

Grainy and rubbery fillings can occur in overcooked custard pies. To give the custard a head start and prevent the sides from overcooking before the centre sets, it is often cooked in a pot before being added to the pie. You can add almost any flavour you can imagine to the custard.

Cream Pies

A cream pie is constructed with a single layer of classic pastry, graham cracker crust, or cookie crust, and a pudding filling that is baked and chilled separately. After that, it's constructed and often has whipped cream on top. There are several flavours of cream pies, such as chocolate, banana, coconut, and vanilla.

Meringue Pies

These pies have a fluffy, sugary, cloud-like filling adorned with a high plume of whipped egg whites. A custard- or curd-filled pie commonly has a meringue on top, which the baker beats up in a stand mixer and then bakes short atop the pie to colour. Meringue should be whipped until it forms stiff peaks to prevent it from leaking, and it should be anchored to the crust's edge to prevent it from pulling away from the edges after broiling. The lemon meringue is the classic, along with the caramel meringue and the chocolate meringue.

Tarts

Pies have a refined subclass known as tarts. The pastry is sweet and has a closed crumb that is evocative of shortbread; it is usually baked in a short-sided fluted pan. It is not flaky like pie crust. The tart filling is often creamy and rich, and it can be baked with the tart shell, as in a lemon tart, added after, as in a fresh fruit tart, or topped with fruit, as in a French apple tart.

Galette

A galette is a kind of free-form pie that can include berries or beets inside of it. For those who are new to baking or who just don't want the hassle of a more sophisticated pie, this makes a wonderful starting recipe. Because it's open-faced, you may experiment with how it looks by sprinkling some finely chopped herbs on top of savoury galettes or brushing some butter on top of a sweet galette before baking.

Chiffon Pie

A chiffon pie exudes vintage charm. Almost frothy, the filling is lighter than that of cream or custard pies, yet it's still rather tasty. The mousse is held together with gelatin, meringue, custard, or a mixture of these. These pies are chilled icebox pies with mostly no-bake contents that firm up in the fridge.